Insanity Max 30: Week 1 DONE!

Day 1: Cardio Challenge

I have finally opened the box to MAX 30! I was so excited when this program launched in December but debated a LONG TIME considering I am expecting our first baby in June. 

After watching so many people doing the program, I thought I would give a few workouts a shot to see how I felt with the modifier. 

Well and here I am now completing my FIRST week of MAX 3 and LOVE IT.  It will truly be a game changer and I can not wait to go full on with this program after our baby arrives. 


The GOAL of each and every workout is to MAX OUT, which means... To stop or fail for the first tim win the workout!!  That's what you are trying to do each workout.  To get as FAR as you can possibly go before you lose your form or stop or fail for the first time!!!

Here's what the each week of MONTH 1 looks like:

Monday: Cardio Challenge

Tuesday: Tabata Power

Wednesday:  Sweat Intervals

Thursday: Tabata Power

Friday: Friday Fight: Round 1

So just a little REVIEW of the workouts! 

Day 1: Cardio Challenge: I had no idea what to expect considering this was my first time doing an Insanity program period so I was a little nervous honestly. I think I could've maxed out during the warm up honestly. 

Day 2: Tabata Power: this takes the program to a whole new level. I seriously felt like my triceps were going to come apart from my body. There is more muscle pumping in the upper body during this workout. I told my husband, I was going to have the best looking arms in the delivery wing. 

Day 3: Sweat Intervals: I will dread this one each week because they don't call it Sweat Intervals for NO REASON!

Day 4: Tabata Power: Another round of TP but increased my time!

Day 5: Friday Fight Round 1: OMG. This workout is a KILLER!!! You don't get your first water break until 15 minutes in. I would call this a combo of the weeks workouts mixed into one. Great session and drenched in sweat about 10 minutes in. 

Day 6 & 7: Rest: I took full advantage of my rest days. I was exhausted and my body and baby needed a rest. I was getting back into my morning workouts and finally establishing a set schedule again. 



Nutriton plan:
  
The nutrition plan is VERY similar to the 21 Day Fix.  There are a few adjustments in some of the food groups  but, it has combined the ease of the color coded containers from the 21 Day Fix so that you can have the portions right at your finger tips!  If you don't have those containers that's ok, you can use measuring cups or the deluxe package comes with the containers!!

With expecting, I am watching my weight every couple weeks to make sure I am gaining the correct amount that I should be, but I am not following the containers to a "T" because I am not looking to loose weight. 

I am sticking to having my Shakeology daily along with 5 meals a day. I have been staying on track and also making healthily choices when we're out to eat which tends to be my downfall. 

With the baby growing every week, my stomach is slowly getting smushed and can tell I am not eating as much as I use to, so it is SO important that I get my normal sized 5 meals in per day.

I am committed to sticking to my meal plan this week...this is what will make or break my progress!!

I can not wait to see the end results I get from this program along with one healthy baby. 

If you're interested in committing to the 60 Days of Insanity Max:30 and would like to be a part of an accountability Test Group with this program, please email me!!  I would love to be your Coach and help walk you through this program to help you get the best results of your life!!

Chat with you later,

XOXO,
SJB
Independent Beachbody Coach

Clean Baked Ziti

This is to die for. Quick and easy recipe, my husband even made this for dinner one night. 

Ingredients 

•   1 box of Whole Wheat Penne Pasta

•   32 oz jar of clean marinara sauce ( I use one from Costco that literally has 6 ingredients in it, yes, I'm sure it would be better for me to make my own, but I don't have time for that!)

•   1 lb of ground turkey, browned

•   1.5 - 2 cups of shredded low-fat mozzarella (divided)

Directions:

Cook the pasta for about 7 minutes ( you want it a little under cooked), brown the ground turkey, mix all the ingredients together, (ground turkey, marinara sauce, pasta, 1/2 of the cheese).

Place in a 9x13 baking dish, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.  Bake for 25 minutes uncovered at 350 degrees.

Let me if you tried it!

XOXO,

SJB

Independent Beachbody Coach 

Weeks 10-16 PLUS our 2nd & 3rd Dr appointment

We have FINALLY crossed into the 2nd trimester!  WHOOP! I can definitely tell you I am starting to get the hang of this pregnancy thing. I can not believe how fast this is going. It makes me sad honestly. Even though, I have vocally been unsure on every feeling my body given me and a little weirded out by it, I love being pregnant. I have embraced it and still can't believe this is happening.

Guess who's eating for 2?!

Well, we have officially told everyone. We finished up telling out families on Thanksgiving. my husband didn't want to do anything crazy to tell his family. However, I was dying to do something fun  for one of them so it was mine. lol.

10 weeks on Thanksgiving

The feeling of being sick at night has slowly suppressed over the weeks and I have be learning what I can and CAN NOT eat right before bed.

Cravings: I am still having a bowl of cereal every morning before I workout. Besides that, no huge cravings.
Get that away from me: I tried my favoriate  Orange chicken and fried rice from Trader Joe's and wanted nothing to do with it :( . I didn't try no more then 2 bites because I don't want to hate it when i go to try in again.



2nd doctor appointment: December 8, 2014:
Appointment went well. We met with a practitioner in the office that gave us a lot baby information. A bit overwhelming but we've had some time to look over it and digest it.  The practitioner had a little trouble finding the heartbeat so we had another ultrasound and everything was AMAZING. Heartbeat was 173.

Auntie Kelly gave Baby B some new outfits. 

3rd doctor appointment: January 5, 2014:
The doctor had no problem finding the heart beat. Strong at 150. He also said the little ruffles in the sound of the ultrasound meant that baby was kicking. Gosh, I didn't know my heart could grow much bigger. I am so in love with this little one already!

Well we've made it through the Holidays with little exhaustion but it was VERY overwhelming for me this year. We are so busy on Christmas Eve and Day. I couldn't wait for Christmas Night to spend with just Nick and I after all the craziness. With my hormones going crazy, my anxiety through the roof, wrapping paper being thrown every direction. It sad to say this because I am not normally like this at all, but I was ready for this Holiday season to be over with.

This sums up my shopping trips. 

Growing belly....
Nothing is more frustrating then your clothes not fitting and you can not find anything when you go shopping. I am still rocking the hair tie on my button of my pants. Last week, it started to get comfortable, so I have started to look for jeans. I don't have many winter clothes to begin with, so with a growing baby in my belly, is not making this any easier. I can not wait until its warmer out so I can wear my dresses and be way more comfortable.

Names:
We have gotten asked a lot about names. We have a SMALL list of names. Yes, we're keeping them HUSH HUSH right now....sorry. We go back and forth every now and then with names and if we both agree then put it on the list. Once we find out the gender we will go from there. It's so nice to keep something private between my husband and I during the time.

Christmas Eve

Baby was spoiled by Grandma

Do I have a feeling of what were having:
I get asked about this a lot! I have never experienced this before so I have no idea. I can tell you I have dreams about the baby and there are days when I feel stronger about the gender then other days, but we will see NEXT MONTH!

Baby B just had his/her first plane ride to Pittsburgh last weekend! I did surprisingly well. I didn't know what to expect on the plane but all was well. The weekend was jam packed with Beachbody events and long days. Exhaustion caught up to me all last week and was able to sleep in this morning, FINALLY.

Baby popped out! 

We are feeling great and back to normal. My workouts have been great so I have decided I am going to start Insanity Max 30 TOMORROW! I will be doing the modifier so it's not so hard on my body and also altering some of the ab movements as well. It's so important to me to stick with my workouts and nutrition while pregnant. Don't get my wrong, the Baked Lays BBQ were my best friend last week and delicious. I could feel the aftereffects of those though and needed to get back on track. You can follow my Max 30 journey in the upcoming weekly posts I will be doing.

Week 16 

Week 17

Our next doctor appointment is February 9th where we will HOPEFULLY get a good view of the gender. We will be finding out with our families later in the month, so we are looking forward to that!

Time is going by so fast. i can't believe in a couple of weeks we will be half way through with the pregnancy, but we are so excited to meet him or her.



As always, thanks for following my journey!

XOXO,
SJB

Blueberry Maple Muffins

These blueberries taste—and smell— incredible. One whiff of them fresh from the oven and it'll be hard to believe they're healthy!

Total Time: 24 min.

Prep Time: 10 min.

Cooking Time: 14 min.

Yield: 15 servings, 1 muffin each

Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray (optional)

1 cup whole wheat flour

¾ cup + 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

¼ cup wheat germ

1½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. fine sea salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 large eggs

½ cup pure maple syrup

1 cup low-fat buttermilk

¼ cup coconut oil, melted

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1½ cups fresh blueberries

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.

2. Prepare 15 muffin cups by lining with muffin papers or coating with spray.

3. Combine flours, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl; mix well. Set aside.

4. Combine eggs and maple syrup in a medium bowl; whisk to blend.

5. Add buttermilk, oil, and extract; whisk to blend.

6. Add flour mixture to egg mixture; mix until just blended.

7. Gently fold in blueberries.

8. Divide batter among 15 prepared muffin cups.

9. Bake 13 to 14 minutes, or until golden brown and tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

10. Transfer muffins to rack; cool.

ENJOY!

XOXO,
SJB
Independent Beachbody Coach

Super Friday in Pittsburgh

You guys! I can not seriously begin to tell you about this weekend. As I’m sitting here reflecting on everything, my head is spinning, overwhelmed and excited for 2015.

This weekend was a HUGE celebration for our TOP TEAM. Melanie was officially announced TOP coach out of over 260,000 so this was a “no question about it” were going and hello Carl Diakler and Autumn Calabrese were coming to town.

So, Beachbody has these quarterly events all over the US.  Different locations make it fun for everyone. We learn about the upcoming trips, product announcements, and training as well. Afterwards, most do a live workout.

There's my girl, Autumn

This is the second year we have made it to Pittsburgh for this event. We mainly stick in St. Louis for the rest of the years. We traveled last year because Michael Niemand from beachbody corporate was in town to congratulate Melanie on #2 coach and present her trip to Italy.

Talk about a group workout 

We got into town on Friday settled in, and got a quick Max 30 workout in  The Omni in Pittsburgh is absolutely GORGEOUS. One of THE most beautiful hotels I have ever stayed in. We had a “white out” theme on Friday night for the actual event. All the attendees wore white and the Market council (who put the event together) wore black.  There were over 1,000 people at this event. They shared success stories, shared a 45 minute video of a little training, talked about our trip for 2016, and also announced a little secret that Beachbody will be rolling out later this year (stay tuned).  Melanie was presented, by Carl, with a top coach basket and her trip to Paris later this year. Alyssa Schomaker was also presented with a basket for #9 and her trip to Paris. Guys, these numbers are out of 260,000 coaches. How amazing is that? We have some seriously leaders on our team and we get top notch training as well. After the presentation was over the first 500 people who got a ticket, they got their picture with either Carl or Autumn. Such a hard decision but I chose Carl. I figured I had a better chance of meeting Autumn at Summit or another event. We went on to do a LIVE workout with Autumn from the 21 Day Fix EXTREME that will be releasing February 2^nd.  Such an intense workout for baby and I so we did the EXTRA modified version and did what we could. Still got a great sweat on and got to enjoy it.

Group workout with Autumn 

Saturday morning came with a 3 hour training from our top coaches on the Dream team. Here is a run down of what was covered:

Val Bozzo: Creating Killer confidence and inviting people

Marsha Smrcka: keys to setting the stage for success. And inviting

Carl & I

Deidra & Kaileigh

Val Bozzo

Melanie Mitro

Alyssa Schomaker

Katy Ursta

Marsha Smrcka

Alyssa Schomaker: top 10 tips to supercharge our business

Katy Ursta: Sweating for something bigger

Deidra Penrose & Kaileigh Hennessey: Identifying what type of coach you are & success partners

Melanie Mitro: short term sacrifices for long term happiness, developing systems, a recruiting game plan

Ended with a Q & A session from the top leaders on our team. With this it was so intriguing to hear how Beachbody has changed the lives of these coaches and what their best investment has been.

Q&A with the panel

I cannot wait to pass these tips to my coaches!

We grabbed lunch at this cute little place in the city not far from the hotel, but holy smokes this city is cold.

Saturday Night came with a HUGE celebration at Perle Champagne bar with dessert. We danced and mingled with everyone. It was such a great time.

As I am sitting here in the airport, waiting to board our flight to Chicago, I cannot help but to think abut how amazing beachbody has been to myself, mentally and physically. A passion I never I thought I would find with working in the typical 9-5 corporate world.  Knowing that I am helping transform lives is what I LIVE for. Its not about the paycheck it’s about the messages I get from clients and my team that make me tear up and makes everything so real that I am doing what I was suppose to be doing all my life.

I hope that each and everyone of you that read my blog are following your dreams and have been in touch with your passion and what you are suppose to be doing. It’s such a blessing.

XOXO,

SJB

TurboFire Chili

Ok, so I am seriously obsessed with this meal!  It is absolutely delicious and you can make it in the crock pot!  I have friends that do not like beans so they omit them and add green peppers, mushrooms or any other veggie you would like!  You can really make it your own!  Just remember to follow the correct portion sizes so you don't over indulge.  It's easy to do with this one.

Ingredients
1 lb. lean ground turkey
½ cup diced tomatoes

8 oz. whole kernel corn, canned
½ onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
8 oz. black beans, canned
8 oz. pinto, chili, or kidney beans canned
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 package Lawry’s chili seasoning
4 oz. low-fat shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions. Brown turkey. Drain and discard any fat. Place all ingredients except cheese into a slow cooker. Cook for 4 hours on low or 2 hours on high. Top with 1 oz cheese if desired.

XOXO,
SJB
Independent Beachbody Coach